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Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Temptation by Water has received not one but two new reviews. I'm delighted with and grateful for both of them. The first, by Emma Bolden, appears in the Alabama Register. Bolden begins, "In her fourth collection of poetry, Temptation by Water, Diane
Lockward offers a series of meditations on the nature of human desire
and how nature itself goes against the fulfillment of our desires.
Lockward’s poems are at turns wry and wicked, sensual and satisfied,
mournful and obsessed with making meaning out of 'the wreckage of
absence' which so often makes up our lives." Read the rest of the review HERE.

The second review, by Michael Meyerhofer, appears in Midwest Book Review. Meyerhofer begins, "'Save your water and green vegetation,' Lockward writes in 'The Temptation of Mirage': 'What I want is the desert.' But how can we argue with her when she presents the reader with the 'eternity of sand' like 'an open-air coffin,' not to mention the cereus with 'its creamy petals like white silk,' the fruit 'red as a splash of blood'? And that's the beauty of Temptation by Water. Beyond the subtly brilliant way in which these poems are ordered, the poems themselves shine with a crisp lyricism eclipsed only by their humanity and honest lack of pretension." Read the rest of the review HERE.

How lovely to be wicked and brilliant. Suddenly, I'm in love with adjectives.

Chef and author, John Ross, has begun two of his recent columns in the Long Island Wine Press by quoting from my poems, both found in my second book, What Feeds Us. The first article, "Your own pasta is well worth the effort," begins with a quotation from "Linguini." The second, "Tropical taste in the shape of a pear," quotes from my poem, "Organic Fruit." That's a concrete poem in the shape of an avocado, a feature of the poem that's lost in the article but can be seen if you follow the link to the poem.

Given all this food talk, I've decided to share with you a recipe I recently made that was fantastic—if I do say so myself. Oddly, I wasn't at all sure I wanted to make this dish as the ingredients struck me as odd—sour cream, catsup, peaches? But it was one of the best dishes I've ever made. And it was pretty, too. I don't think "casserole" is the best name for this dish but can't come up with a better one. Perhaps you can?

Preheat oven to 350
Dredge chicken breasts with mixture of salt, pepper, paprika and flour. Reserve remaining flour mixture.
Brown chicken on all sides in hot butter. Remove to a 3-quart casserole.
Lightly brown almonds in drippings left in skillet.
Stir in remaining flour. Gradually stir in water and consomme. Add catsup, cook and stir until thickened.
Remove from heat and stir in sour cream. Pour over chicken and bake, uncovered, for about 1 hour.
Arrange peaches on chicken.
Sprinkle with cheese and return to oven for 10 minutes.

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About Me

I live and write poetry in New Jersey. My most recent book is The Crafty Poet: A Portable Workshop. I am also the author of three full-length books, most recently Temptation by Water (Wind Pub, 2010). My second collection, What Feeds Us, received the 2006 Quentin R. Howard Poetry Prize. I am also the author of Eve's Red Dress and two chapbooks, Against Perfection and Greatest Hits 1997-2010. My poems appear in a number of anthologies such as Garrison Keillor's Good Poems for Hard Times and in such journals as Harvard Review, Spoon River Poetry Review, and Prairie Schooner. My poems have been featured on Poetry Daily, Verse Daily, and The Writer’s Almanac.

What Feeds Us

Eve's Red Dress

Readings

Saturday, March 28, 2015, Girl Talk: A Poetry Reading in Celebration of Women's History Month, with more than two dozen women poets, West Caldwell Public Library, 30 Clinton Rd., West Caldwell, NJ, 1:00 - 4:00 PM